Anniversary
by ezriaforever-b26
Summary: Aria and Ezra's anniversary is coming up, but will they celebrate it? Are they even dating? Can they even still call it their anniversary with everything that has happened lately?


**AN: I'm super late with this given that Ezria's anniversary is in September, and it's now totally _not _September, but this is something that I actually started working on on their anniversary, but then my laptop was being all weird (it's actually like a thousand years old, I swear) and then I've only just logged into FF today for the first time in forever (yup, Frozen pun intended). Haha but really, I know it's late but this is my offering to the Ezria fandom for Ezria's anniversary this year. **

**Warning: this is full of clouds and fluff and cheese and super lovey-dovey cringey-ness. BUT I think that it's cute and I loved writing it and I hope that you'll love reading it. It also kinda explores another possible option for closure/redemption on that awful season four storyline that I don't like to think about (another option I wrote is in The List), so there's that, too. This has been a ridiculously long AN and so now I'm just gonna shut up. Okay. Enjoy :)**

* * *

It was the day before Labour Day, and Aria and Ezra were spending the morning together in his apartment. Aria wasn't quite sure what the deal was between them. She wasn't really ready to put a label on it, and Ezra was just grateful for any time that she wanted to spend with him. In truth, Aria wanted more. She wanted to connect more with Ezra, just like they always did before, but right now, she was pretty satisfied with how it was going, and she didn't want to go too quickly, for risk of ruining things. In a way she was ready to forgive him for everything, she wanted to with all of her heart, but she didn't want to come across as weak, or unable to function without him.

Ezra, still in his pajama pants and a simple t-shirt, was sat in the kitchen area, reading a newspaper. Aria sat on the couch, reading a book of her own. This is how a lot of their mornings went lately. She'd come over pretty early, and they'd chat a little, but then they'd end up just sitting together and reading. The TV would play quietly in the background, usually some 24-hour news channel, just as a backdrop, so they weren't sat in complete silence. It sounds awkward, like a situation you'd make up excuses after excuses to avoid, but it was their thing. They'd always done it, and the only difference between then and now, was that now they weren't cuddled up together on the couch. It was nice, it wasn't awkward or weird, it was just _nice. _Nice to spend time together, and be together, even if they weren't actually communicating. They'd make passing comments every now and then during the hour or so they'd spend like that, and then one of those comments would turn into an actual conversation, ending their silent reading time.

Ezra looked up from his newspaper, and out of the corner of her eye, Aria noticed. He thought for a second, but then his eyes drifted back to the newspaper.

"What?" Aria put down her book and sat up right. She'd been leaning slightly, a mountain of pillows layered behind her.

"What do you mean, what?" Ezra closed the paper and picked up his coffee, taking a sip, smiling.

"You know what. You were going to say something, but then you stopped."

"No I wasn't -"

"Don't lie to me, I know that look. Say it." Aria had no idea why she was pressing it. She _did _know that look. It was the look he had when he was about to say something that would no doubt make him sound incredibly stupid, or just make a situation awkward. Aria knew that what he had to say probably wouldn't help things. It was probably something about their slip, an article about key lime pie, a sale at Paula's, or something equally as ridiculous that reminded him of something. But she wanted to hear it, she was craving anything that would remind her of how they used to be. It was weird, but this weekend was their anniversary, well, if she could even call it that. It was something that she'd thought about a lot over the past few weeks. Could they still call it their anniversary? Ezra knew who she was. He knew when he met her in the bar that she was one of Alison's friends, and he'd applied at Rosewood because he knew that the four of them were students there. It had all been a cruel set up, but she also knew that without it, she never would have fallen in love with him. Maybe it _was_ still worth celebrating after all.

Ezra sighed. He looked at her carefully, and his expression said, _what I'm about to say will make everything awkward and for that I'm sorry, _but Aria brushed it off and stared him out.

"Do you know what this weekend is?"

And at that statement, it was as though she had been thrown through time. Suddenly she was a fly on the wall for Labour Day 2011. She was sat in pretty much the exact same place, but Ezra was with her, and then she stood up, and Ezra followed her, and he repeated those words. _Do you know what this weekend is? _And then there was kissing, and lifting, and touching, and kissing, and even more kissing..

"I shouldn't have said that -"

Ezra's words brought Aria back to the present, but she interrupted him.

"No, no, it's fine. Just had a little deja-vu moment there, that's all." She laughed quietly. "Yeah I know what this weekend is."

Ezra smiled weakly. "I'm sorry, I just, I knew it was coming up, but then there was this article," he waved the newspaper, "about Labour Day and..."

Aria sat up more, and curled up on the couch. He knees were tucked up to her stomach, and she wrapped her arms around them. "Can we even still call it our anniversary? I mean, do _you _count it?"

Ezra nodded with no hesitation at all. "Yeah, of course. It was the day we met, I wish with all my heart, every single day, that the circumstances were different, but it's when we first met, when we first kissed.."

Aria felt the sick feeling in her stomach again, like she always did when she thought about that damn book. Ezra recognised the drop in her face. It was the same one he'd seen when she found out about the whole stupid thing, and when she'd come to see him after she'd wrecked his apartment. He got up and walked over to the couch. He sat down and placed his hand on hers.

"Aria, I know that I knew who you were. Well, I didn't know that you were _you_, I thought you were older, one of Alison's college friends.. I didn't realise you were in high school," he shook his head, and then realised he was going off on a tangent. "But, the way you looked at the poster, I knew that you knew her; I just wanted information, I guess. But I didn't know that you were going to walk into the bar. I didn't track your car GPS or listen in on your lunch plans. It _was _fate that we were both in the same place at the same time. Maybe it was the book that pushed me to talk to you, but I'm so glad I did. So yeah, I do still count it."

Aria's eyes were fixed on his. "You've never told me that before."

"What?"

"That you thought I was older, and that you didn't know I was going to walk into the bar. I suppose I should have known that you couldn't have known the latter. I guess it doesn't change much, but still."

"That's why I was so shocked when I saw you in my class. Alison had shown me a picture of the four of you once, but it was bad quality. I didn't pay much attention, and the girl that looked like you had a pink stripe in her hair. I knew your names, but _we_ didn't share names when we first met. I told you I was Ezra but you seemed hesitant to tell me yours, so I didn't push it, I just gave you my number. I thought you'd be sat in a lecture room at Hollis on that Monday morning, not one row over from the windows in my classroom, as a _high school student._" Ezra laughed a little. "It's no excuse. I was still a jerk, but I pretty much called off the book straightaway. When you were due to take the SAT's, there was that huge storm, and I went to New York, you remember?"

Aria nodded.

"I had an appointment with my publisher. I decided to stop the whole thing. I didn't care about it anymore, it didn't matter. I didn't want to do it and I knew it was the wrong thing to do, especially as we got more serious."

Aria didn't know what to say, this was a lot to take in.

"Wow."

"I'm sorry, that was a lot-"

"No, no, I'm just shocked, is all. I'm shocked that you never told me all of this when I first found out."

Ezra shrugged. "It wouldn't have mattered. I was still a dick, whatever way you looked at it.

Aria laughed.

"What?" Ezra laughed, too.

"Nothing, it's just that it's not too often that I'll hear you say a bad word, it's funny."

Aria laughed even harder, and Ezra couldn't help but join in.

After a few minutes, the laughter subsided, and Ezra spoke up. "I wanna do something this weekend. I know that we haven't really put a label on us right now, but whatever we are," he took a deep breath before, "I'm still in love with you."

Aria opened her mouth to speak but he interrupted her.

"You don't have to say anything, not yet anyway, and this might sound cheesy but I don't care. I'm gonna pick you up tomorrow, and take you to the place where I first realised that I loved you."

Aria chewed on her lip, smiling. "That's actually not a bad idea."

"Of course it isn't," Ezra smiled playfully, "when do I ever have bad ideas?"

Aria stared at him, her mouth breaking into a laugh, "ummmm.."

"No. Don't answer that." His eyes begged her, "please."

Aria laughed and Ezra joined her. "Just be ready for 7, okay?"

"Okay." Aria smiled and picked her book back up, and Ezra picked up another newspaper from the coffee table, and they both began to read again together as they sat on the couch. They weren't quite cuddling, but they were getting there.

* * *

All dressed and ready to go, Aria checked her reflection in her mirror. She stared at herself, inspecting every single inch of her face, before clicking in.

"Shoot, lipstick!"

Unable to believe she'd forgotten something so important, she rushed to her vanity and looked through the endless tubes, and pots, and _palettes _of lip colors before deciding on a simple pink gloss. She applied it evenly, and tousled her hair a little. According to her phone it was 6:55pm. This was perhaps the first date with Ezra that she'd actually been on time for. Okay, she was kinda early for their first date, but that mostly down to nerves. Reminiscing like this, it got Aria thinking. _I'm gonna take you to the place where I first realised that I loved you. _Where could that be? Aria thought about it. Ezra had first told her that he loved her at school, late at night, after the charity dance. Or maybe he'd realised earlier, like when she listened to him read his short story to everyone, and she met Hardy for the first time. It could have even been when he went to New York.. but would he really take her to New York at 7pm at night? I guess a girl could dream..

The doorbell rang and Aria froze. She'd hoped to have left before Ezra had the chance to come to the door, before her Mom had the chance to see him and ask awkward questions about their relationship. Luckily her coat was already on, so she grabbed her purse and quickly ran down the stairs. _Thank God I'm wearing flat boots, _she thought to herself as she creaked her way down them, not far off two at a time. She arrived at the door just as her Mom emerged from the dining room.

"Oh, right, yeah, you're heading out tonight, I forgot. Is that one of the girls? Is it Hanna? I borrowed her Mom's necklace for an event at the gallery last week. Hang on I'll go get it-"

"No, no, um. It's not Hanna. It's not any of them."

Ella walked closer to her daughter and inspected her face.

"That's not girls make-up, that's date make-up!"

Aria touched her face defensively, "no! It's not a date-"

"Is it Jake?"

"What? No! I haven't seen him in weeks-"

"Are you seeing Holden again? I didn't think his family was back-"

"No, Mom, they're not. Just.." she sighed, "no. It's not a date. I'm just going out with a friend."

Ella grabbed her hand and held up her nails. "You got a manicure for a _friend_?"

"Mm-hmm." Aria nodded, inspecting her cuticles, trying to be as believable as possible. Ella opened her mouth to speak but the doorbell rang again, making them both jump.

"You'd better answer that. You don't wanna keep your _friend _waiting for too long." Aria nodded, trying to silently hint that she wanted Ella to leave so she could go out without any questioning.

"You're not gonna answer until I leave, are you?"

Aria remained silent. "Honestly, Aria. I'm your mother, I don't judge... much. Okay, that's it."

With that, Ella flung the door open, and her expression changed from one of laughter to something more serious. She knew why Aria wanted to keep this as her little secret, she should have guessed. Ezra's face dropped. He wasn't expecting to see Aria's mother tonight. He wasn't sure what she knew, or what she thought of him right now, so he was just a little bit terrified.

"Ella!" He said it was an obvious fake enthusiasm, a dash of awkwardness, but an overwhelming desire to be polite. "How are you?"

"Ezra. Wow, it's been a while. Uh, come in.."

Aria began to cringe as soon as she saw Ezra's panicked face. Her mother looked as awkward as she felt, or maybe even moreso, if that was possible right now.

"Yeah, um, it's been too long.."

The awkward small talk was too much for Aria to handle. "Um, Mom, what's my curfew?"

Ella looked from Ezra to Aria and furrowed her brow, trying to work out what was going on between them. "Uh, 12.. It's a weekend, so.."

Aria laughed nervously. "Right. Of course. So we'd better.." she looked at Ezra and he smiled.

"Nice seeing you Ella," he said, walking out of the house.

"You too.." Aria began to walk out herself, but her Mom grabbed her arm. "You don't have to hide this from me anymore, Aria. I am okay with you dating Ezra, you do know that, right? I just didn't know you were back together."

Aria sighed. "Yeah.. Um, look, it's just, the thing is, I don't know what we are doing right now. Things are weird.. I don't want things to look like something they're not, I didn't wanna confuse you or anything until I know for sure myself what this is."

Ella nodded. "I'm sorry. I pushed you a little."

"A little?" Aria raised her eyebrows.

"Okay, a lot."

"It's okay," Aria laughed. "That's what Mom's do right?"

"You know it," Ella laughed. "Oh, and um, if on the off chance, Spencer calls, or any of the girls, to see if you wanna sleep over, _that's okay._"

Aria immediately caught what her mother meant, and she turned bright red, both horrified that she thought about that, and grateful that she would be okay with it.

"Oh, um, thanks Mom."

Ella leaned in and kissed her on the top of her head before letting her leave and closing the door.

* * *

The car journey was pretty slow. As soon as Aria entered the vehicle, she was met with a silence. Neither of them knew what to say. They kept saying that this wasn't a date, not really. They weren't officially a couple.. But this whole thing really did feel very 'date-like.'

"So, um, where are you taking me?" Aria gave him a wide smile, and Ezra took his eyes off the road for a moment to really look at her.

"I'm not telling, it's a surprise."

"Well I'm gonna know when we park up, sooo.."

"Don't count on it," Ezra said smugly, "look in your glove box."

Aria leaned over to open the compartment, and inside, among magazines, some sunglasses and a bag of coins, was a blindfold.

"You cannot be serious." Aria couldn't help but laugh as she held it up. "Wow, okay, now you gotta tell me where we're going. Are you gonna lock me up somewhere and leave me blind?" She raised an eyebrow and smirked, "did you fall in love with me after I was locked in the box with the dead body?"

Ezra began to laugh, "no! No. It was, uh, waaay before that."

They shared a moment, a look of longing between them as Ezra said that sentence. He coughed slightly and then directed his attention back to the road as a smile played on both of their lips.

Aria looked looked away and her eyes, too, faced forward, as she warmed to the idea of this big unveiling. "Fine, fine.. Just tell me when I need to put it on."

"Right about..." they turned a corner, "now." Aria nodded. "Very well," she smiled, covering her vision.

"Oh, and by the way," she heard Ezra say beside her, "you look beautiful tonight."

Aria smiled again as they turned another corner.

* * *

As they drove through the many different streets of Rosewood, all Aria could hear was the soft sounds of the radio and the car engine whirring quietly. Ezra was humming gently to a song that was playing, causing Aria to grin, but then the song shut off, and so did the engine, and the car came to a pretty abrupt stop.

"Okay, we're here."

Aria reached her hands up to her head to undo the blindfold, but her arms were pulled away by Ezra. "No no no no! What are you doing?"

"But we're here-" Aria pouted.

"Exactly, you gotta wait until we're inside."

"Ah, so it's somewhere indoors."

"Shut up, you're ruining the surprise."

Ezra hopped out of the car on his side and closed the door, before running around to open Aria's for her.

"Thank you," Aria smiled as Ezra took her hand and helped her out. He made sure the car was fully locked and then took her hand in his, with his other hand supporting her back.

"Just for future reference, I don't like to be blindfolded," muttered Aria quietly as they made their way to the entrance of the building.

"Good to know." Ezra smirked. He told Aria to watch her step, which she tried to do, but she almost tripped over anyway, and before they knew it, they were inside.

"Okay, it's warmer now, so we're here? Can this thing come off?"

"Not quite.. Just wait, okay? You're so impatient, why have I never noticed this before.."

"Hey, I may be blindfolded but I can still hear you loud and clear."

"Yeah, I knew I should have bought some ear plugs with the blindfold, it was a 2 for 1 deal, the cashier even encouraged me.."

Aria laughed. "Seriously, c'mon. This is verging on fifty shades right now, with the restricted sight and all the secrecy. Although I'm sure Christian didn't make Anastasia walk around _this_ much."

"You seem to be awful familiar with the character names, Aria. Was that some kind of extra reading you did for class?"

Aria felt her cheeks redden. "Just, shut up, and _hurry_ up."

They walked a little further until they encountered another step, which Aria actually managed not to trip over. The slightly raised heel on her mostly flat boots began to make noise as they came in contact with the hard floor. It wasn't a wooden floor, or carpeted, it was more like it was stone. It was a sound that she recognised.

Then the smell hit her. It wasn't horrific, but it wasn't overwhelmingly nice either. It was probably bearable if you were only in here for a maximum of five to ten minutes, but again, she recognised it.

"What is that smell? Ezra, it's not good. Oh my god you really have bought me to a box with a corpse haven't you?" She was joking, she _hoped. _Half of her wanted to leave, it didn't seem like the kind of place she'd want to spend her time, but the surprise hadn't yet been revealed, and she was dying to know. Plus, she trusted Ezra with all of her heart.

Ezra was remaining silent. He helped Aria walk further into the room. She heard a dripping sound and music could faintly be heard coming from somewhere.. perhaps a radio? Or just a stereo? He stood her somewhere within the four walls, and felt something behind her to lean on, so at least she wouldn't fall over. She could hear the sound of his footsteps getting quieter, and his scent getting duller as he began to walk away.

"Ezra? Wait, where are you going?"

"I'm right here don't worry, just hang on a second."

So she did. And then, after a moment, another song started to play, and she recognised it.

"Okay, you can take it off now." Ezra's voice was further away, and she scrambled behind her head to undo the tight knot she'd created earlier. Surprisingly, it was easier to remove than she had anticipated, and it fell off, dropping to the floor, revealing that she was stood in the bathroom of Snooker's bar.

"Wow," Aria whispered as she looked around. She hadn't been here since that very first time she'd come into here with Ezra. She had gone first, and it didn't take him long to follow her. B26 had been playing at the time, and it was playing again now, through the speakers. She looked straight at Ezra. "Really?"

He shrugged. "As soon as we kissed, I knew. I think I knew when we were at the bar, but when I kissed you, and held you, it was jusr confirmed for me."

Aria smiled, she could feel her eyes dampening. "Me too." She wiped her eyes and laughed. "And here I was thinking that we'd be going to Rosewood high school's parking lot."

"Haha, that was when I finally plucked up the courage to actually _tell _you.. I didn't wanna say it straightaway, you know. Just in case you didn't feel the same.."_  
_

Aria's expression turned a little more serious, and she looked down and began to unbutton her coat. She did it quickly, and when she took it off, Ezra's smile widened.

"You're wearing the dress," he smiled, pointing, as he got closer to her.

"You said you were taking me to the place where you first knew you loved me," she began, "so I decided to wear the same outfit that I wore the day I knew_ I_ loved _you_. Snap."

Ezra just stared at her in disbelief. Total, complete and utter disbelief at this amazing girl, who despite everything, despite how much of a jerk he'd been, and how idiotic and stupidly ambitious he'd been, continued to want him, and continued to want him.

"I'm still in love with you, too," she whispered, snapping him out of his thoughts. "Earlier on, that's what I was gonna say. When you told me I didn't need to say anything right then. I'm still in love with you."

He didn't know why, or how he was letting it happen, but in that moment Ezra began to cry. This guy, who'd kept everything in or what felt like forever, began to finally allow tears to fall and run down his cheeks. He looked at her through blurry eyes, "I'm so sorry." He shook his head, silently cursing himself. "For everything."

Aria furrowed her brows and walked over to him, slowly, before taking his face in her hands and wiping his tear-soaked skin softly with her thumbs. "Shhh. It's all done, it's over. I love you, okay? I love you, and I want you, forever."

And then she raised herself up onto her tiptoes, and kissed him. He supported her and wrapped his arms around her tiny frame, holding her as close to himself as humanly possible, and kissed her back. It got more and more intense as he led her backwards until her back came into contact with the sink, and then he hoisted her up, both of them entering into the same position that they were in on that day that felt like years and years ago, when they both fell in love with eachother.

* * *

**So... cheesy right? Haha. Thank you so much for reading and I hope you liked it! Be sure to let me know what you think in the reviews, or find me on twitter at adoringezriax :)**

**Also, quickly, if you're a reader of my Brallie story, do not worry! I have not abandoned that story, it's just that lately I haven't been feeling that inspired when it comes to writing it, and I don't wanna write a chapter just for the sake of writing it when my heart isn't fully in it because it won't be what I'd class as good and would probably be a let down to all of you lovely people. Just wanted to quickly mention that because a couple of people have asked about it!**


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